News

Baltimore Blast President and General Manager Kevin Healey announced that the team has signed midfielders Scott Buete and Pat Healey and forward Matt Tirschman. The team opened training camp this morning and will kick off the 2008-09 National Indoor Soccer League season on November 15th at 1st Mariner Arena.

Buete, who was a member of Baltimore’s 2008 championship team, spent the summer season with the Atlanta Silverbacks of the USL’s first division. He had eight points in 16 Blast games last season and was named to the USL-1's weekly Best 11 team twice over the summer. A graduate of Bowie High School, Buete was part of a Maryland Terrapins team that advanced to two NCAA Final Fours and won the 2002 ACC Tournament.

Tirschman, a graduate of Salisbury University and Overlea High School, is making his return to the professional indoor game after retiring in 2002. He started his professional career with the then-Baltimore Spirit in 1997-98 and went on to win back-to-back NPSL Championships with the Milwaukee Wave in 2000 and 2001. He was inducted into Salisbury’s Hall of Fame in 2007 after earning two team MVPs and three CAC Player of the Year awards and being named First Team All-CAC three times and All-Region First Team twice in his collegiate career.

Healey, the son of Kevin Healey, spent the 2008 summer season with Crystal Palace of the USL’s Second Division. The Blast selected Healey, a 5-11, 160-pound midfielder, in the Territorial Round of the 2008 MISL Amateur Draft. He was the 2007 Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year and led the CAA with eight goals and nine assists. Healey was also drafted by the Kansas City Wizards in the first round of the MLS Supplemental Draft and finished his collegiate career as Towson University’s eighth-leading scorer. Healey was a three-time All-CAA selection and a two-time NSCAA/ADIDAS All-South Atlantic Region player.

The Blast will hold an intrasquad scrimmage on Saturday, November 1st at Du Burns Arena at 6 p.m. Tickets for the scrimmage will be available at the door on the 1st for $5. All proceeds will go to the Friends of Mike Woodard Fund.

Blast season tickets and five-game mini plans are on sale now through the Blast office. Single-game tickets are also on sale now and are available at the 1st Mariner Arena Box Office and at all TicketMaster outlets including TicketMaster phonecharge at 410-547-SEAT. Tickets can also be purchased online at TicketMaster.com. Tickets cost $30, $22, $19 and $16. For additional information on Blast tickets, call the Blast at 410-73-BLAST.